The United States President, Joe Biden, has privately apologised and vowed to “do better” to a group of Muslim Americans for casting “excessive skepticism” over the number of Palestinian deaths released by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
Daily Mail UK reports that President Biden faced five community figureheads who were furious one day after he publicly dismissed a Palestinian death toll on October 25.
It was reported that at the press conference at the White House, President Biden who has been steadfast in his support of Israel since October 7 said, “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed.”
On October 26, President Biden reportedly fraught discussions with five community public figures who were incensed by his comments, as their group back-and-forth went over Biden’s allotted scheduled time by 30 minutes.
All five attendees had been hand-picked by the White House, and one of the attendees was said to have told the Washington Post that “We said, ‘Palestinians are dying. We’re not okay with the numbers of their dead being disputed.”
The meeting which was only meant to run for 30 minutes however went on for more than an hour, and President Biden ended up hugging one of the participants and vowed to “do better.”
One of the five attendees, Keith Ellison, reportedly told the Washington Post that “Muslim community leaders told President Biden that the suffering of innocent Gazans trying to survive in extremely difficult circumstances has actually increased the likelihood of Islamophobic attacks in the United States.
“The President listened carefully, responded sincerely, and showed empathy and compassion for the suffering of everyone. I am hopeful he will act on that empathy.”
President Biden and his officials have been meeting with various groups of Muslim, Palestinian and Arab Americans in recent weeks as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues to divide public opinion.
It was believed that the war could also have effects on Biden’s prospects for the 2024 election as Swing states like Michigan, have dense Arab American communities whose opinions on Biden’s reaction to the Israeli-Hamas war will be fresh in their minds when going to the polls next year.
As it stands, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported that more than 14,000 people have been killed, adding that some 10,000 of those killed are believed to be women and children, as reported by New York Times and quoted by Daily Mail.
The Washington Post was said to have reported that another meeting organised by White House saw a dozen Palestinian Americans tell aides that Biden would lose Arab and Muslim voters over the war.
On Sunday night, a young American orphan who turned four while she was a hostage of Hamas was one of the nine child and teenage hostages Hamas handed over to the Red Cross.
A total of 13 Israelis, two Thai nationals and a person from Russia, including four-year-old Israeli-American Abigail Idan, whose parents were killed during Hamas’ deadly October 7 incursion, have reportedly been freed by Hamas.
The other children held by Hamas for the last seven weeks in Gaza’s underground tunnels have been identified as 8-year-old Ella Elyakim; 15-year-old Dafna Elyakim; 10-year-old Ofri Brodutch; 8-year-old Yuval Brodutch; 4-year-old Oriya Brodutch; 17-year-old Agam Goldstein; 9-year-old Tal Goldstein and 11-year-old Gal Goldstein.
Other hostages released on Monday by Hamas as part of the Hamas-Israel deal that will see around 50 women and children held by the terror group released in exchange for a brief ceasefire include 39-year-old Hagar Brodutch; 48-year-old Chen Goldstein; 84-year-old Alma Avraham and 63-year-old Adrian Aviva Siegel.
Daily Mail further reports that all but one of the 13 Israeli hostages have been taken to Israel, while one elderly Israeli woman was taken to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, along with Thai and Russian nationals who were seen being driven in a Red Cross van.
It comes as Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he was committed to returning the roughly 200 hostages held by Hamas.
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